Table manners have a history, like so many other things we practice today. The first record of a set of table manners comes from the Old Kingdom of Egypt from a book entitled The Instruction of Ptahhotep written around 2500 b.c. Known as the Prisse Papyrus discovered by an archeoligst by that name, the record predates the Bible by about 2,000 years. Scholars believe it was advice written for young men climbing the social ladder. “Laugh when he laughs” and “say nothing about their failing philosophy , so that thou shalt be very agreeable to his heart.” Simply put, kiss up to the boss. It is believed that many directives about manners found in proverbs and Ecclesiates reflect these ancient instructions, particuarily applying to preparation and consumption of food.

And speaking of consumption we didn’t always have forks, we ate with our hands whether we were commoners or nobility. The nobility only used three fingers to eat, never letting the ring or pinky get engaged. Around the 11th Century in Tuscany, forks for eating appeared but were widely rejected, condemned by the clergy, arguing that human fingers were created by god and only they were worthy to touch god’s bounty.

The spoon, meaning a chip were thin, slightly concave pieces of wood, dating back 20,000 years . Upper class Greek and Roman citizens had bronze and silver spoons while other’s were of wood.The knife goes back even farther to 1.5 million years ago. The table napkin began as a full size towel and a 1680s document shows, there were 26 favored shapes in which to fold these serviettes . Finger bowls were also used to dip ones fingers in rose petals and rosemary as the Greek and romans did or in almond, cinnamon or orange blossom,; myrrh cassia or spikenard in Egypt. As more and more people wanted to know how to behave before the court, ettiqutte books of the 1200’s advised one to “refrain from falling over the dish like a swine while eating, snorting disgustingly and smacking the lips.” In the 14th century people were told not to poke their teeth with their knife as some did and in the 15th century the diner was reminded not to put back on the plate what had been in their mouth.

Children had their own set of rules and a 1530 treatise by Erasmus of Rotterdam, a Christian philosopher and educator, authored On Civility in Children, “Do not move back and forth on your chair. Whoever does that gives the impressions of constantly breaking or trying to break wind.” And that you should not offer your handkerchief to anyone unless it has been freshly washed.

Emily post continued the customary societal etiquette parade in 1922 and others have followed suit. But it took almost 1.5 million years for the elements of table to come together; first the knife,then the spoon, later the fork, then the napkin and then of course manners while dining at the table. I wonder what the proper thing to do 1.5 million years ago when some cooking offended you. Surely you weren’t to club them, at least not immediately. Do you think they had an Anne landers or Emily Post too ?

JZMH